


well my love, we've been here before

by brookethenerd



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-14
Updated: 2016-12-14
Packaged: 2018-09-08 12:21:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8844838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brookethenerd/pseuds/brookethenerd
Summary: facing imminent death is the best time to confess feelings. (aka lavender and parvati finally admit to each other what has been true for years)





	

As everyone rushes around the castle, readying the defenses, checking on younger siblings, making sure the youngest of the children are safely locked away and protected, it is Lavender Brown who is still.

When Parvati finds her in their room, it’s like she’s looking at a different person. Lavender, usually bright and moving and happy, is sitting on the edge of the bed, her eyes on that crack in the floor that they made one night during 5th year while dancing around late at night. Her hair is loose, falling down her back, and not held back by one of Lavender’s characteristic headbands.

She lifts her eyes to Parvati’s when she comes in, but it’s like she’s looking through her.

“They’re almost here?” She asks. Parvati nods, licking her lips.

“We should get going. They want everyone above 4th year out at their post.” Parvati says.

“I’ll be there in a moment.” Lavender says.

Parvati stands in the doorway, knowing she should leave, but not wanting to.

Lavender makes the decision for her. She stands up, and moves to stand in front of Parvati. Lavender’s slim fingers close around her wrist, and Parvati is pinned in place.

Parvati is scared. Terrified. She’s scared she’s going to die, that Padma is going to die, that they’re all going to die, that Voldemort is going to win.

But the thing that scares her most is that Lavender might die. Because Lavender and _dead_ don’t go together. But they could. After tonight, they could.

And that’s why she can’t speak, or move. She just looks at Lavender, and those blonde curls, and the big blue eyes, and she keeps looking.

“What are we doing?” Lavender asks softly.

“We’re going to fight.” Parvati answers immediately. Lavender shakes her head.

“No. Not that.” She says.

Parvati’s lips part, and she closes her eyes. She knows that this will be a night of courage. A night of a lot of things. A night of ends.

It might as well be a night of beginnings.

Grabbing onto her courage and opening her eyes, Parvati takes Lavender’s face in her hands, and pulls her towards her.

And she kisses her.

It isn’t tender or careful or soft like Parvati always hoped their first kiss would be. There isn’t the time for that.

This kiss is chaos. It is Parvati’s fingers in Lavender’s hair, and Lavender going still for a moment, before kissing her back, fiercely. It is Parvati pushing Lavender back until she hits the wall.

Parvati always thought they had time. She always told herself, one day she would tell Lavender how she felt. One day she would be honest, one day she would walk straight up to her, and say the three words she’s felt since 2nd year. Since before she even understood what love was. Even now, her only definition of it is _Lavender_.

Lavender pulls back, and Parvati’s hands settle on the sides of her neck, and for a moment, they just look at each other.

“I’ve wanted to do that since we were kids.” Parvati says.

“You should have done it sooner, you numpty.” Lavender teases. Parvati smiles, and slides her hand up, tucking a loose curl behind Lavender’s ear.

“Tomorrow, everything is going to be different, isn’t it?” Parvati asks.

“In the best way.”

“You think we’ll defeat him?”

Lavender tilts her head, lips curling up.

“You don’t?”

Parvati closes her eyes, the teasing of the moment falling away, the dread coming back. It fills her chest like cement, and it’s obvious that Lavender feels it, too.

“We should go.” Parvati says, opening her eyes.

“We should.” Lavender says.

Lavender leans in, and brushes her lips against Parvati’s softly, before pulling back. She wraps Parvati in a hug, and buries her face in her hair. Parvati breathes in the scent that is Lavender, and commits it to memory.

Something Dumbledore said comes to her head.

_“You are protected, in short, by your ability to love.”_

Parvati believes, in that moment, that he’s right. Because she is standing here in Lavender’s arms, and no matter what happens tonight, Voldemort can’t take that away. He can’t kill it, or twist it, or change it. She and Lavender will always have this, wrapped up in each other.

“I love you.” Parvati whispers, just loud enough for Lavender to hear.

“Me too.” Lavender whispers back.

The girls pull back, and no longer look at each other like children in love, or like the happy and jubilant girls they once were. They are warriors, going off to battle.

Parvati steps back until the only touch between them is her hand in Lavender’s.

Then she lets go. As she turns away, and the two walk out of their room, and make their way out and onto the stairs, parting their separate ways, Parvati thinks of all the fun she’s had with Lavender. Giggling late at night. Gossiping over meals. Passing notes in class. Whispering dreams to each other.

She holds onto these things as she goes to her post, wand drawn. And after, when they bring Lavender’s body to lay with the others, she keeps holding on.

_"The ones that love us never really leave us.”_

This, Parvati believes, is true as well. While Lavender might be gone, Parvati knows she never left. And she never will.


End file.
